(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Caimanes de Barranquilla (twitter))
      Caimanes de Barranquilla first Colombian team to win Caribbean Series
Nederlands
 SANTO DOMINGO (Dominican Republic) -
Caimanes de Barranquilla wrote baseball-history on Thursday-evening (February 3), as it became the first team from Colombia to win the title in the Serie del Caribe (Caribbean Series).
In the Final of the annual event, the Colombian squad faced favorite and home-playing Gigantes del Cibao.
Caimanes won 4-1 against the Dominican champion, which had lost only once en route to the Final.
Last year, Caimanes also represented Colombia and then lost all five games played.
In case Gigantes had won, it would have been the third consecutive title for a Dominican team.
In 2020, Toros del Este won, last year Águilas Cibaeñas.
Although Gigantes was the favorite for the title, it was Caimanes that recorded some more convincing wins en route to the Final.
This year, the tournament was held in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.
There, the games were played at Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal, which is named after pitching legend and Hall of Famer Juan Marichal.
Six team participated in the tournament, which were the champions of the professional leagues in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.
After a round-robin, in which all teams faced each other once, the top-four advanced to the Semi-Finals.
The team in first place met the team in fourth place, while the other Semi-Final was played between the teams that finish in second and third place.
This year, Astronautas de Los Santos (Panama), Caimanes de Barranquilla (Colombia), Charros de Jalisco (Mexico), Criollos de Caguas (Puerto Rico), Gigantes del Cibao (Dominican Republic) and Navegantes del Magallanes (Venezuela) represented respectively the Béisbol Profesional de Panamá (Probeis), Liga Profesional de Béisbol Colombiano (LPB), Liga Mexicana del Pacífico (LMP), Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente'(LBPRC), Liga de Béisbol Profesional de la República Dominicana (LIDOM) and Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional (LVBP).
Gigantes had won its first Dominican title in seven years.
Navegantes had won the title in the professional league in Venezuela for the first time since the 2013-2014 season.
Astronautas had won its second consecitive title in the professional league in Panama.
The team debuted in the 2019-2020 season when it played in Chiriquí and captured the title.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the 2020-2021 season was cancelled.
Caimanes is the most successful team in the professional Colombian league, as it captured the championship-title for the twelfth time.
The Serie del Caribe was first held in 1949 and is organized by the Confederación de Béisbol Profesional del Caribe (CBPC).
From the first edition through 1960, the champion from the Cuban Nacional Series also participated.
Cuba returned as participant in 2014 through 2019.
Through the years, teams from the Dominican Republic won the tournament 21 times.
Tigres del Licey is the recordholder with ten titles.
In the preliminary round, Gigantes del Cibao also ended up short against Caimanes, which then won 2-1.
For the Dominicans, this was their lone loss.
The team opened the event a week ago with a small 3-2 win against the Mexican champion, then won 5-3 against Puerto Rico.
After winning 7-3 against Panamese, Gigantes lost against Caimanes.
Hereafter, the home-team won 8-7 in ten innings against the representative from Venezuela.
Caimanes de Barranquilla lost two games in the round robin.
The team first won 6-1 against Venezuela, then nipped Panama 6-5.
Next, the Colombian team lost only 1-0 against the Mexican champion, for whom this was the first win of the event.
The lone run was scored in the second inning, thanks to a homerun by Felix Pérez.
The next day, Caimanes recovered and won against Gigantes, but then ended up short in its final game against Puerto Rico (6-2).
In the Semi-Final, Gigantes again recorded a small win, nipping Mexico 2-1.
The Dominicans took a 2-0 lead, thanks to Moises Sierra, who produced a runscoring single in the second inning and a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
When the ninth inning began, the Dominican pitching had thrown a Perfect Game, but moments later, the team not only lost the Perfect Game, it also lost the No-Hitter and the ShutOut and almost also the game.
After the first 24 batters had been retired in order, Mexico opened the ninth with a lead-off double and a single.
With runners on first and third base, a line drive ended in the first out.
After a runscoring grounder cut the deficit in half (2-1), another grounder ended the game.
Caimanes played a strong Semi-Final against the Venezuelan champion and recorded a convincing 8-1 victory.
Carlos Arroyo accounted for the offensive highlight with a baseclearing, 3-run triple in the second inning, then scored himself on a wild pitch.
...Caimanes de Barranquilla is the first Colombian team...
...to win the Serie del Caribe...
(© Photo: Caimanes de Barranquilla (twitter)) |
In the Final, Elkin Alcalá played an important role for Caimanes, as the righthander dominated as starting pitcher.
Alcalá threw 5 2/3 inning in which he gave up only four basehits and struckout seven batters.
Hereafter, three relievers secured the lead.
Closer Rodrigo Benoit (who is from the Dominican Republic) got the last five outs in the game.
Caimanes decided the game with a 3-run rally in the second inning off of Cuban starter Raúl Valdés.
In the second at bat, the Colombians collected five basehits, including three doubles.
Reynaldo Rodríguez led off with a double, then moved into scoring position when >Andres Angulo flied out.
Hereafter, Mauricio Ramos and Dilson Herrera produced back-to-back doubles to bring in two runs.
Herrera advanced to third base on a single by Venezuelan Sandy León, then scored the third run on a single by Brayan Buelvas.
Gigantes appeared to do some scoring in the fifth inning.
Cuban Henry Urrutia led off with a double, but Elkin Alcalá then struckout the next two batters and a flyout ended the at bat.
In the sixth inning, the home-team did score on a 2-out single by Robinson Canó.
The 39-year old second baseman played in sixteen Major League-seasons (2005-2020), including the first nine for New York Yankees.
In November 2020, Canó was suspended for the entire 2021 Major League-season after testing positive for using performance enhancing drugs.
Now leading 3-1, Alcalá again saw Urrutia lead-off with a basehit in the seventh inning, this time a single.
But he was left behind again.
Caimanes added an insurance run in the ninth at bat on a double play-grounder by Mauricio Ramos.
Reynaldo Rodríguez was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
Last Saturday, the playing sites for the upcoming five Caribbean Series were announced and confirmed.
Next year, the Serie del Caribe will be held in Caracas and La Guaira (Venezuela), to be followed by Miami in 2024 at loanDepot Park.
It will mark the third time that the Caribbean event will be organized in this American city in Florida.
Miami also hosted the event in 1990 and 1991.
Hereafter, Mexicali (Mexico), Bayamon (Puerto Rico) and Hermosillo (Mexico) will be the sites in 2025, 2026 and 2027.
(February 3)
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